Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

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African American Schools - Moonlight Schools, Kentucky
Start Year
: 1911
End Year
: 1920
The Moonlight Schools were night schools for adults; the sessions were held within school houses in rural communities. The first moonlight school sessions were held in 1911 in Rowan County, KY. The idea and execution of night school for adults was the brainchild of Cora Wilson Stewart, an experienced education leader who crusaded against illiteracy. [More information and her biography can be found at Guide to Cora Wilson Stewart Papers, 1900-1940 in the Kentucky Digital Library]. Moonlight Schools were soon opened throughout the United States in county areas and within cities. There were at least 15 Colored Moonlight Schools in Kentucky by 1915, with the best schools located in Maysville, Winchester, Mount Sterling, and Paris; Mercer County held a Moonlight School in every colored school district [source: p. 49 in Cora Wilson Stewart and Kentucky's Moonlight Schools, by Y. H. Baldwin]. See also the 1919 Day By Day County Illiteracy Agent's Record Book, a collection of booklets within the Cora Wilson Stewart Papers, 1900-1940, Box 65. The booklets include the locations of some of the Colored Moonlight Schools and the names of the teachers. The collection is held at the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center. See also NKAA entries for African American Schools.